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Kasi History
Cullen MacAngus was born, third son of the seventh son of old Lord Gunter MacAngus, near Carrack Town in the Highlands of Gherin Culloch. As a young lad, full of piss and fire, he was always taking time off from his chores to go romp in the surrounding forests. Slightly north of there was another town called Montag. A young lad of that town, by the name of Garin MacTaggart, had the same idea, and the two running into each other became fast friends - and the terror of the local country-side. They got into innumerable predicaments, and by the age of fourteen had saved each others' lives and honor countless times. However, that year Clan MacAngus and Clan MacTaggart began to feud. When the Fiery Cross came through, young Cullen could not bear the thought of fighting his friend. He therefore left, slipping away in the middle of the night, spurning the battle call and earning everlasting dishonor in the eyes of his clan. He moved to the lowlands of Gherin Culloch, to Tamlin Town, a farming community where the highland Clans held no sway. 'Twas there that he met, fell in love with, and married a bonnie weaver lass named Katherine (Katie) O'Tamlin. He shed his dishonored name, taking (as was the custom for many lowlanders) the name of the town in which he lived. They had a happy but rather uneventful life, producing several children, the oldest of whom was Kassandra Margaret. Kassandra Margaret (Kasi) was nothing but a trouble for her parents. She loved them dearly, and they her, but she was a willful sprout, good at finding ways to get her way. She ran off to be schooled with her brothers, to the annoyance of her mother but the delight of the headmaster, who found her to be an extraordinarily bright child. When her parents did manage to keep her home, and teach her her expected trade of weaving, Kasi was abominable at it. She was simply unable to keep her mind on the patterns. So she was sent to help her father with the farm - another miserable failure. In exasperation, her parents sent her to live with her Aunt Brethil, a childless widow who owned an Inn in the port city of Madrak. Thus, it was at ten years old in the Barley Blossom that Kasi discovered her true vocation - Innkeeping. She had to work harder than she ever had to under her parents, but she didn't mind an ounce. From her aunt she learned how to brew, cook, drive a hard bargain in the marketplace, and keep books. Brethil also introduced her to the beginnings of herbalism - how to spice up the food and drink to bring out the best taste, which herbs to put in the ale to send troublesome customers to sleep. From the customers she learned how to swear, how to brawl, and a smattering of the other languages and dialects of Xaria. She worked for her aunt for three years, meeting fascinating people and gathering fabulous stories of adventure, before deciding that she didn't want to spend the rest of her life only hearing stories. Brethil was sorry to see her go, but after a number of violent arguments and one knock-down, drag-out fight she gave Kasi her blessing. A week later, Kasi took ship for the mainland. She worked various Inns along the coast, moving steadily north. She'd stay in a city for no longer than three months at a time, making enough money to stay alive and setting enough aside to move on again. She encountered all sorts of people, as well as meeting the Other Races for the first time. They didn't come to Gherin Culloch much - the natives were rather hostile and there wasn't that much to do on the Bonny Isle anyway. It was in one of these Inns, the Blue Ghost in Huag-treth in Karandia, that she met Roderick MacAngus. One night a hansome Culloch Highlander strolled into the 'Ghost. It was easy to spot him - the kilt was rather noticeable among the normal clientele. Kasi made a point of serving him herself, using the highland brogue to identify herself as another Culloch. They got along famously, so much so that Kasi took ship with him when he left to continue his trading run. When the season was over, he took her back to the Bonny Isle and made her his wife - Baroness MacAngus. They lived happily together for two years. The Baron was an Alchemist, and Kasi was only too glad to help him in his studies and learn all that she could. The only thing to mar the bliss was Roderick's mother, who believed that Kasi, a common-born lowlander was nowhere near good enough for her son. After a number of illnesses, Kasi discovered that her mother-in-law had been putting a wasting potion in her drink, keeping her ill and sterile, in the hopes that she could talk her son into divorcing Kasi. Needless to say, upon this discovery, Kasi grew wroth and was plotting her revenge when her thoughts were interrupted by an explosion from the tower room where Roderick had his laboratory. She rushed up, but it was too late. She was a widow. Her mother-in-law immediately accused Kasi of murdering her son, and lied well enough that Kasi had to leave her lands quickly or risk being hanged - or burnt at the stake. So off she went to the mainland again, to take up her old life of Innkeeping. And the adventures started again. She took up with a thief, and was for a while a member of the Thieves' Guild of Irroquin. She took up with a nobleman, and ended up becoming a Royal Healer and Bodyguard to the Dauphin of Gallura. She was mucking about on the borders of Quivera, and saved the life of the daughter of an Elven Councilwoman. Thus was she a guest for a time at the Elven Capitol. She got married again, this time to Donal Slaine, a bonny Culloch that she'd shared many adventures with. It seemed Fate had decreed that they watch out for each other - they kept running into each other in the strangest places. For one, it turned out that Donal was a Captain of the Guard of Challter Medrium. When she and Donal decided to leave Challter Medrium and part ways, Kasi decided to do some real traveling. She became a trader, taking a caravan - mostly through force-of-will - across the continent. She stayed with the Dwarves long enough to learn blacksmithing, and to teach them a thing or two about the perfect combinations of herbs and alcohol, and then continued on her way. She ended up in Rynith, fighting undead - two years in a row! This was enough to convince her that she wasn't fond of the world this side of the Badlands. Another surprise reunion with Donal brought the idea that perhaps it was time for both of them to go back home, back to the Bonny Isle. When she and Donal got to the Island, they were accidentally separated in the forests at the foothills of Thariluven. While wandering around lost, Kasi encountered a strange sight - tall, thin, opal-colored women, dancing by a still pool that perfectly reflected the light of a full moon. Being Kasi, she walked boldly out of the wood and joined them in their dance. The dancers seemed startled, but continued on, and when the grey light of morning grew around them Kasi left with them for their homes. (more on the Fey later - needless to say, she eventually found her way back) She and Donal had intended to begin a war so that they could each reclaim the lands that were theirs, but political conditions on the island were so bad that Kasi attempted to forge a peace between the clans instead. Put simply, it didn’t work. It did, however, end up with Kasi getting married again in 496, to a young lad from Clan MacAllister. Unfortunately, he drowned shortly thereafter, when the boat which Kasi had employed to take them off the island sank in a violent autumn storm. Kasi survived by clinging to some wreckage, however, and washed up on the shore of one of the Thieves’ Isles. This was when her old membership in the Irroquin Thieves’ Guild came in very handy - in fact, it saved her life. Soon thereafter, in 497, Kasi took ship for the mainland again, looked up a few of her old contacts and got the capital to finance her new operation. As Innkeeping seememd to work the best for her, she had decided to open a chain of Inns across the land. They would all be called the Inn of the Red Roses, named after the red faces that accompanied many of her patrons after they’d had a few too many. For the last fifteen years, she’s been having amazing success in her new venture, as well as branching out into shipping, caravans, mail carrying, and banking.